Ford Motor Company has announced some initial details about its next electric pickup it’s calling an “epic sequel to the F-150 Lightning“.
Codenamed Project T3, which stands for ‘Trust The Truck’, this Ford electric pickup and its battery pack will be produced at the company’s yet-to-be-finished Blue Oval City mega-campus in West Tennessee from 2025.
The carmaker posted a short video on YouTube detailing some information about Project T3 and potentially revealing the exterior design in a brief shot.
During the video there’s a shot of what the Project T3 could look like in the background, as well as a clay model.
It’s hard to make out any details because both of the objects are either too far in the distance and out of frame. The shot is extremely brief too.
Ford has said the team behind the Project T3 is aiming to create a “truck people can trust in the digital age”.
It will have towing and payload capabilities, exportable power, and will receive software updates. There will also be “endless new innovations”.
“Project T3 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revolutionise America’s truck,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley.
“We are melding 100 years of Ford truck know-how with world-class electric vehicle, software and aerodynamics talent. It will be a platform for endless innovation and capability.”
Mr Farley added the electric pickup is “going to be like the Millennium Falcon – with a back porch attached”.
The carmaker has said the Project T3 and Blue Oval City are being developed at the same time. Once running at full production the facility is claimed to be capable of producing 500,000 electric pickups annually.
This is over three times what Ford is currently projecting for its annual production rate of the F-150 Lightning by the end of 2023.
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Blue Oval City
Production of the F-150 Lightning only just resumed after being temporarily paused because there was a battery-related fire in February.
In 2021 Ford announced it was rolling out two new electric vehicle (EV) architectures, one of which would be used for full-sized pickups.
That indicates Ford is developing a rival to the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which rides on a dedicated EV architecture rather than sharing its platform with the combustion-powered Silverado.
The F-150 Lightning, in contrast, is based on the 14th generation of the long-running, combustion-powered F-Series line.
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F-150 Lightning
Ford has also trademarked the Ranger Lightning name, suggesting it’ll introduce an electric counterpart to the Ranger.
The company has confirmed the Ranger’s T6 platform supports electrification.
In order to complete the Blue Oval City mega-campus and begin production of the Project T3, Ford is spending US$5.6 billion (A$8.4 billion).
This comes as Ford announced it’s expecting its Model e EV business to post a US$3 billion (A$4.5 billion) loss before taxes.
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